The number of property sales in Cyprus continued to rise inJuly with the number of sales contracts deposited at Land Registry Officesacross the Republic up 21 per cent compared with July 2017.
During July a total of 896 contracts or the sale ofresidential and commercial properties and land (building plots and fields) weredeposited at Land Registry offices across Cyprus, compared with the 758deposited in July 2017.
Of the 896 contracts deposited, 426 (48.7%) were for propertiespurchased by non-Cypriots.
The figures show a continuing improvement in the economicconditions, coupled with government measures such as the citizenship byinvestment scheme.
Sales rose in all districts. In percentage terms Nicosia ledthe way with sales rising by 42% followed by Paphos, where sales rose by 27%and Limassol, where sales rose 17%. Sales in Larnaca and Famagusta rose by 9%and 3% respectively.
During the first seven months of 2018 the number ofcontracts for the sale of property deposited at Land Registry offices has risen23% to 5,366 compared to the 4,349 deposited during corresponding period oflast year. In percentage terms Famagusta saw the highest increase in the numberof sales – up by 56%, followed by Nicosia (the capital) with a 36% increase.Increases of 23%, 17% and 9% were recorded in Limassol, Paphos, and Larnacarespectively.
The Land Registry figures reveal that a total of 426property sale contracts were deposited by non-Cypriots during July 2018. Ofthose 150 were deposited by EU citizens and the remaining 276 by non-EUcitizens, but we cannot quantify the number of non-EU citizens who boughtproperty with a view to applying for citizenship. Paphos remained the mostpopular district with the overseas market with the number of property salescontracts deposited reaching 171. Limassolrecorded 120, Larnaca 71, Famagusta 43 and Nicosia 21.